Thimble



C- FUREDI Jan. 2, 1951 THIMBLE Filed Oct. 25, 1949 I N VEN TOR.

Patented Jan. 2, 1951 THIMBLE Colman Furedi, Bronx, N. Y., assignor of one-half to Charles Zentner, New York, N. Y.

Application October 25, 1949, Serial No. 123,385

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a thimble and in particular to a thimble provided with a permanent magnet. This magnet is surrounded by the walls of the thimble, as more fully described in the copending patent application Ser. No. 100,853, filed June 23, 1949 by Charles Zentner, now abandoned.

The thimble according to this invention corne prises a commercial thimble carrying at its closed or top end a cup-shaped member of non-magnetic material, thus forming a closed chamber for the reception of magnetic material.

It is one object of the present invention to simplify and reduce the cost of manufacture of a magnetic thimble by using a commercially available thimble and adding a cheap additional cupshaped cap. Insertion of a magnet into a commercial thimble would considerably shorten the space for the finger of the wearer, thereby causing disproportioning of the dimensions of the thimble.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description in connection with the associated drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a top view, partly in section, of a thimble according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view, partly in section, of a thimble according to this invention; and

Fig. 3 is a top view, partly in section, of a thimble according to this invention.

Referring to the figures, the body I of the thimble consists of a thimble of any commercially available type and may be made of any suitable material. A permanent magnet 2 is placed inside a tip or cap 3, shaped as a cup, and forming the continuation of the body of the thimble. The cap 3 may be afiixed to the body I in any manner, for instance by cementing.

The magnet 2 may be loose in the chamber between the body I and the cap 3 or may be cemented or otherwise affixed to the chamber walls. It may consist of one magnetic piece, shaped as a slab, as shown in Figs. land 2, or of a. plurality of small magnetic irregularly shaped pieces, as shown in Fig. 3; alternatively magnetic powder may be used.

The cap or tip 3 preferably has the same surface roughening as is found in conventional thimbles for the needle to take hold; its wall thickness may be the same as that of the thimble body I. The rim of the cap is firmly attached to the top of the thimble body at 5. This rim may be slanted to snugly fit the outer edge of the thimble top so that a continuous outer surface is formed where the tip 3 joins the body 5 of the thimble.

The manufacture of a thimble according to this invention starts with a thimble made of metal, plastic, or any other suitable material. It is one of the advantages of this invention that magnetic material, such as iron, steel or nickel, can be used for the body I of the thimble. The cap or tip 3 is preferably made of plastic and may be molded. It is then filled with a permanent magnet 2, such as Alnico, and securely attached to the body i.

Although particular embodiments of this invention have been shown and described in detail, it is desired that the appended claim be construed as broadly as its terminology permits.

What I claim is: V

1. In combination a thimble of conventional shape and size, a cup-shaped cap having a surface roughened like the surface of a thimble, said thimble having a side wall and a bottom wall, said side Wall and said bottom Wall forming a hollow body open at one end, said cup-shaped cap being attached to said thimble at its closed end to form a chamber between the bottom wall and said cup-shaped cap, and magnetic material in said chamber and substantially filling said chamber.

2. In combination a thimble of conventional shape and size, a cup-shaped cap having a surface roughened like the surface of a thimble, said thimble forming a hollow body open at one end and closed at the other end, said cap being attached to said closed end to form a chamber between said closed end and said cap, and magnetic material loosely positioned in said chamber.

COLMAN FUREDI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,301,093 Bradford Apr. 22,1919 2,455,506 Leslie Dec. 7, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 20,093 Great-Britain Sept. 17, 1904 

